Francesca Zappia > Quotes

“Broken people don't hide from their monsters. Broken people let themselves be eaten.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“You found me in a constellation.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“Sometimes I think people take reality for granted.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“There is a small monster in my brain that controls my doubt.
The doubt itself is a stupid thing, without sense or feeling, blind and straining at the end of a long chain. The monster though, is smart. It's always watching, and when I am cmpletely sure of myself, it unchains the doubt and lets it run wild. even when I know it's coming, I can't stop it.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“There are monsters in the sea.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“People say teenagers think they're immortal, and I agree with that. But I think there's a difference between thinking you're immortal and knowing you can survive. Thinking you're immortal leads to arrogance, thinking you deserve the best. Surviving means having the worst thrown at you and being able to continue on despite that. It means striving for what you want most, even when it seems our of your reach, even when everything is working against you.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“I'm so tired. I'm tired of anxiety that twists my stomach so hard I can't move the rest of my body. Tired of constant vigilance. Tired of wanting to do something about myself, but always taking easy way out.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“Maybe that’s normal. The things you care most about are the ones that leave the biggest holes.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“Like life, what gives a story its meaning is the fact that it ends. Our stories have lives of their own—and its up to us to make them mean something.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“Believing something existed and then finding out it didn't was like reaching the top of the stairs and thinking there was one more step.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“Intelligence is not measured by how much you know, but by how much you have the capacity to learn.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“Disappearing is an art form, and I am its queen.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“Everyone's interesting if you stare at them long enough.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“She drew so many monsters that she became a monster herself.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“I learned years ago that it’s okay to do this. To seek out small spaces for me, to stop and imagine myself alone. People are too much sometimes. Friends, acquaintances, enemies, strangers. It doesn’t matter; they all crowd. Even if they’re all the way across the room, they crowd. I take a moment of silence and think:
I am here. I am okay.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“I didn't have the luxury of taking reality for granted. And I wouldn't say I hated people who did, because that's just about everyone. I didn't hate them. They didn't live in my world.

But that never stopped me from wishing I lived in theirs.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“What you loved as a child, you will love forever.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“No, you're not a bad person," he said. "And Richter isn't a bad person, and I'm not a bad person. We're just people, and people sometimes do stupid things.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“Truth is the worst monster, because it never really goes away.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“If you want the motivation back, you must feed it Feed it everything. Books, television, movies, paintings, stage plays, real-life experience. Sometimes feeding simply means working, working through nonmotivation, working even when you hate it.
We create art for many reasons - wealth, fame, love, admiration - but I find the one thing that produces the best results is desire. When you want the thing you're creating, the beauty of it will shine through, even if the details aren't all in order. Desire is the fuel of creators, and when we have that, motivation will come in its wake.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“I am real. This”–he put his other hand over the first-“is real. You see me interacting with other people all day long, don’t you? I talk to people; I affect things in the world. I cause things to happen. I am real.”

“But-but what if this whole place”-I had to suck in air again-“what if everything is inside my head? East Shoal and Scarlet and this bridge and you-what if you’re not real because nothing is real?”

“If nothing’s real, then what does it matter?” he said. “You live here. Doesn’t that make it real enough?”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“How can I want something so badly but become so paralyzed every time I think about taking it?”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“I'm not normally one to take advice from my fictional characters, but there comes a point in every girl's life where she reaches a crossroads: a night alone with her sweatpants and her favorite television show, or a party with real, live, breathing people.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“Dear Asshole: Thank you for keeping your word and believing me. It was more than I expected. Also, I'm sorry you were inconvenienced by my gluing your locker shut at the beginning of this year. However, I am not sorry that I did it, because it was a lot of fun. Love, Alex.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“Real people don’t have concise character arcs.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“Did you meet your soul mate? That always happens on the first day of school, right?'

'Oh God, Charlie, she's letting you read again! You went straight to the paranormal section, didn't you?”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up

“I don't want to be the girl who freezes when confronted with new friends, or the outside world, or the smallest shred of intimacy. I don't want to be alone in a room all the time. I don't want to feel alone in a room all the time, even when there are other people around.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“Creating art is a lonely task, which is why we introverts revel in it, but when we have fans looming over us, it becomes loneliness of a different sort. We become cage animals watched by zoo-goers, expected to perform lest the crowd grow bored or angry. It's not always bad. Sometimes we do well, and the cage feels more like a pedestal”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“I made Monstrous Sea because it's the story I wanted. I wanted a story like it, and I couldn't find one, so I created it myself.”
― Francesca Zappia, Eliza and Her Monsters

“In a weird way, it felt like he belonged here. He belonged in the land of phoenixes and witches, the place where things were too fantastic to be real.”
― Francesca Zappia, Made You Up